This Rotten Week: Predicting The Wolverine Reviews

This Rotten heatwave has taken a toll on all of us East Coasters. I mean Iíve had to turn my air conditioner up to high for like four straight days and swim in my pool more than the usual twice-a-day dip. Hey, we all make sacrifices from time to time. It comes with the territory. As the heat breaks we have a light week for the Rotten Watch with Wolverine bringing his claws back into theaters.

*I will not be doing a prediction for The Way, Way Back as there are already more than one hundred reviews up for this flick.

Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer.
Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer.

One thing I love about movies, and its what makes them such a timeless art form (until we just enter a time of scientific advancement that will allow us to enter virtual reality making our own personal movies and finally tuning out the external world once and for all) is the possible self-corrective nature of iconic characters and storylines. Comic-Con illustrates this kind of eternal hope, the dreams that beloved characters will get the treatment they deserve. Why else would thousands of folks trek out to San Diego for a week other than for the chance to see things like a Batman and Superman team-up, Thor and Captain America crushing it again and X-Men footage providing some fanboy goosebumps. Movies, especially ones based on comic book characters, carry the kind of pop-culturally historical weight that is so hard to replicate. When a character has been around in print and movies for about forty years thereís a desire, a yearning, for a movie adaptation to get it right. The first Wolverine standalone story X-Men Origins: Wolverine (38%) didnít do it. It came close, but seemed more concerned with providing screen time to other characters in the Marvel Universe than focusing on Logan (Hugh Jackman) and his history. It was a choppy adaptation that left fans disappointed.

But like I said, movies offer second (or third, or fourth) chances and this Wolverine story looks like a winner. Picking up in a timeline after X-Men: The Last Stand (57%), The Wolverine is based on Chris Claremontís and Frank Millerís Wolverine Volume 1 and centers on the mutantís time in Japan. Directed by James Mangold (Knight & Day-52%, 3:10 to Yuma-88%, Walk the Line-82%), this film is an early winner with critics. Sitting at 69% through sixteen reviews, early eyes on the ground seem pleased with the output and how Loganís story gets the big screen treatment it deserves. Though this score will surely dip a bit as the week stretches on, initial opinions do matter.

Wolverine is a complex character with more than enough backstory to fill the big screen many times over. Heís layered and mysterious, funny and rough around the edges. Jackman has always worn the claws well, and was a big reason X2: X-Men United (87%) was such a hit. Which made the first Wolverine all the more disappointing. Hopefully this movie corrects that mistake and continues its positive run with critics. The Rotten Watch for The Wolverine is 63%